KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — The ringgit ended higher against the US dollar for the third consecutive day; riding on the easing of domestic political risks after the budget has been passed, higher oil prices and the United States (US) Federal Reserves’ decision to kept the interest rate unchanged at 0.25 per cent.
At 6pm, the ringgit closed at 4.0320/0370 versus the greenback, compared with 4.0490/0540 at the close yesterday.
Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes suggested that the best is yet to come for the ringgit going into 2021, where commodity prices should continue to reflate the globe.
He added that the US Treasury has released its much delayed “currency manipulation” report, which focused on the period between July 2019 and June 2020.
“It also placed 10 economies on the Monitoring List, which listed Malaysia and other countries such as Japan, Korea, Germany, Italy and Singapore.
“However, this will be very much ignored, given that the Biden administration is less likely to pursue aggressive action,” Innes said.
Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mostly higher against all other major currencies.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.0410/0460 from 3.0469/0518 yesterday, rebounded against the euro to 4.9315/9389 from 4.9418/9487 yesterday and appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.9111/9171 from 3.9197/9253 from 3.8949/8989 previously.
However, the ringgit declined against the British pound to 5.4771/4851 from yesterday’s close of 5.4722/4806. — Bernama
